Philip Koch – it rhymes with "watch" – has a rather novel way of explaining his journey from abstract painter to a contemporary interpreter of the 19th century American masters.

"It was adolescent rebellion," he said, calling from his home in Maryland. "I studied with modernist teachers, and so it makes sense that I would go traditional in defiance. What's really funny, when I went to college, I had no intention of becoming an artist at all."

He had more serious pursuits in mind, to become a historian. But in taking the requisite classes – "I just wanted to get them out of the way," he said – he found his art class was the only one he really enjoyed.

"No one was more surprised than me," he said, but as those who visit "Unbroken Thread: Nature Paintings and the American Imagination – The Art of Philip Koch" at the Saginaw Art Museum will find, he's full of surprises.

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• What: "Unbroken Thread: Nature Paintings and the American Imagination – The Art of Philip Koch"

On Friday, Dec. 9, Koch will personally lead guests through the exhibit, discussing his collection of oil paintings and charcoal sketches, as part of the night's After Hours @ the Museum. The next day, he'll lead a figure painting workshop, using a nude model as he helps participants complete a painting within the day.

"I did a very similar project in my class today, a pose that I think will work well in Saginaw, too," said Koch, also a professor of art at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.

Koch traces his fascination with painters like Edward Hopper, Winslow Homer and Rockwell Kent to a Homer reproduction print that hung over the sofa in his boyhood home in upstate New York, along the shores of Lake Ontario, though he didn't realize it at the time.

"I love the sense of light and the very deep spaces," he said. "And I love the region. I thought I'd live up there, but Maryland is much warmer."

His love of the artists led him to New England, he said, but once he was there, "it was like a childhood reverie, the deep forests and lonely shorelines resonating a feeling powerful enough to stay in my memory banks all those years.

"I'm actually painting my old neighborhood. It's funny, it's like time travel to the best memories of when I was a kid."

Interest in his contemporary "being of our time" works is growing as more people realize, as urban as society has grown, Earth is still a living, vital place. And art, like music, is a great way to reconnect the broken fragments of life, he added.

Koch is growing in the experience, too, finding as he spends time in Edward Hopper's studio that his work is moving away from the architectural focus of his mentor's work to an exploration of nature.

"His studio is so sparse, there's so much solitude, it's almost spooky," he said. "But I also saw that he didn't paint what was all around him. He went all about to find the right material. That was a real lesson to me, don't be satisfied, keep searching for more."

At the same time, each generation should make a comment on their times, he said. And when art historian Eva J. Allen proposed the idea of creating a traveling exhibit of his work, playing on the similarities and differences between the contemporary and 19th century paintings, he began preparing for its 2008 debut.

Koch is no stranger to the Saginaw Art Museum, where he exhibited his works in 1996 and returned the next year as juror of the museum's regional art competition.

"I went to school in Ohio and Indiana, and the Midwest has always been a secret pleasure," he said. "And when I saw the expansion, all those large spaces, I knew I could bring my entire exhibit, all 50 pieces.

"I love the fact that, in including the sketches I made in preparation, I can share the process as well. This is the eighth installation, the largest I've done, and in each one, I've found something that I've never noticed in my work before. I always find a new favorite."

Koch, who had donated one of his oil paintings to the Saginaw Art Museum's permanent collection, sent a proposal for the show in 2008, said deputy director and curator Ryan Kaltenbach, "and we've keep in close communication ever since.

"As a curator, I'm truly excited with the color palette, the oils and the charcoals. It's an opportunity to be creative with the layout."

It's like walking into nature itself, he said of the exhibit, "and people who loved the vibrancy of earlier exhibits, who found a connection with the outdoors, are really going to enjoy the almost spiritual feel of his works."

Also opening is the Art in the Heart of the City's Art 4 All regional exhibit, featuring works by Neil Davison, David Holtslander, Marsha Klein, Tisch Mikhail Lewis and Susan Nielsen. It remains open through Jan. 22.

And Kaltenbach said he may open an adjacent exhibit of works from the museum's collection created by the 19th century American artists that inspired Koch.

Koch can't wait to see it all come together.

"I'm a ham; I love to talk about the works," Koch said. "Through my years at the University of Maryland, where, by the way, Lincoln gave his second inaugural address, I've learned how to put into words something visual.

"I had wonderful teachers, some very colorful characters, and I'm happy to be able to pass that along to the next generation."